Pot-legalizing Amendment 64 moves a step forward to becoming law

Nov. 26, 2012

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The marijuana-legalizing Amendment 64 on Monday moved a step closer to becoming Colorado law.

County clerks from across the state were required by the end of Monday to submit their certified vote totals for the fall election.

State law sets out a timetable giving Secretary of State Scott Gessler until Dec. 6 to certify the totals. Then, Gov. John Hickenlooper has 30 days to formally sign off.

“We’ll review the canvass board reports from each of the counties and then tabulate all of the results from the counties and issue the certified results,” said Rich Coolidge, a spokesman for Gessler, on Monday. “Most of them will come in today.”

Amendment 64, which legalizes small amounts of recreational pot for personal use, takes effect upon Hickenlooper’s signature. Under the law, anyone 21 and older may possess up to an ounce of pot, and can smoke it in a private place without violating state law.

The ballot measure also establishes a system of marijuana stores, regulation and potential taxation, but those portions phase in over the next several years.

The Boulder and Denver district attorneys have already ended simple marijuana-possession prosecutions, although Weld and Larimer prosecutors say they will consider each prosecution on a case-by-case basis.

Because marijuana remains illegal on the federal level, state officials are struggling to reconcile the conflicting laws. Hickenlooper and Attorney General John Suthers have both said they will support the state law because it passed with broad voter support, but have cautioned that implementing the law may be difficult.

Hickenlooper has until Jan. 5 to sign off on the vote totals and issue an executive order “proclaiming” the new constitutional amendment, said spokesman Eric Brown. Brown said Hickenlooper will sign off on the vote totals because that’s what state law requires. But he said the federal government has not yet weighed in.

In a letter sent to the federal Department of Justice earlier this month, Hickenlooper and Suthers pleaded for clarification: “The DOJ has not, however, sought to prosecute the majority of grow operations and retail dispensaries operating under Colorado’s medical marijuana laws. In light of those past statements ... we need to know whether we can expect any different posture regarding marijuana grown and distributed for recreational use.”

Federal officials have not yet responded.

In Larimer County, Amendment 64 passed 55.7 percent to 44.2 percent, with more than 176,000 ballots cast.